Rick and Morty: "The ABC's of Beth" Review

As enjoyable as this season of Rick and Morty has been, it's been frustrating to see so little attention devoted to Beth and Jerry. Jerry is pretty much the best character on the show, after all, and the fact that the two are dealing with the fallout of their divorce leaves the door open for all sorts of wacky, emotionally draining adventures. "The ABCs of Beth" felt like a concerted effort to make up for lost time, and it didn't disappoint.

It really is high time Beth enjoyed a starring role for a change. In a show crammed full of psychologically complex characters, she's among the most fragile and damaged. She basically combines all the worst traits of her father - the alcoholism, the ego, the often indifferent attitude towards her children - with a pathological need to impress Rick and convince herself that he's worthy of the effort. Among other things, this episode was great about shining a light on their dysfunctional relationship and exploring just how far back that dysfunction started. The takeaway this week is really that Beth is far more screwed up than the show ever let on.

Just look at what we learned about the character this week:

1) Her father built her an entire virtual world as a play pen, not out of love, but a desire to keep her from hurting the other neighborhood kids and wasting his valuable time.

2) Even as a child, Beth was so jealous and petty that she left her only friend trapped in Froopyland because she was jealous of his loving parents and the fact that he had a Nintendo.

3) Beth let Tommy's father take the fall, waiting until the eve of his execution to finally develop a conscience and try to rescue Tommy.

4) In the end, Beth would rather leave Tommy for dead and clone him than apologize for her actions.

Some pretty dark stuff, in other words. Most of the actual humor in Beth's storyline came from the juxtaposition of the cutesy nature of Froopyland with grotesque violence and references to cannibalism and incest. It's enough to wonder if the writers went a little too far exploring the dark creature that lurks beneath Beth's pleasant exterior. But ultimately, it worked because this entire conflict served to showcase just how much of Rick is in Beth. They're both too intelligent and too restless for their own good. Rick's closing monologue summed up both their relationship and the show's general philosophy about as eloquently as anything we've seen on the show. It was both sad and poignant to hear Rick wax on about how being smart makes the universe your personal amusement park, but in the end there's only one way to stop the ride. It's not so much that Rick and Beth are evil people as that they're both weighed down by the emptiness of the world around them. Not that this in any way excuses their actions. Despite what some misguided fans seem to think, this show has never really condoned Rick's destructive, selfish behavior.

I definitely enjoyed the ambiguous way Beth's conflict ended. We'll probably never know if she took Rick up on his offer. And even if she did, we'll also never know when the clone Beth makes way for the real Beth once more. Maybe she never will. But as Rick said, regardless of Beth's decision, at least she will have finally made a decision. It's just one more layer of weirdness to add to a family where two members were already replaced by doppelgangers from another dimension. Regardless of whether the Beth we see from now on is the real deal or the impostor, she's a vastly more compelling character because of this episode.

The Jerry subplot was comparatively straightforward and goofy, but that's really what the episode needed to balance out the bleak nihilism of Beth's Froopyland adventure. True to form, Jerry took one step forward, two steps back as he reentered the dating pool and bit off way more than his cowardly body could chew. Watching Jerry be an idiot never loses its appeal. And there's a certain added novelty in seeing Season 3 Jerry paired up with his kids. Their disdain for him couldn't be more obvious at this point. Not for the first time, this season has shown us that Morty and Summer are far better adjusted to the crazy world around them than their parents or grandfather. Even with only ten episodes, I think we'll soon be able to look back at the entirety of Season 3 and appreciate just how much the members of the Smith/Sanchez family evolved and changed relative to where they were in Season 2.

The Verdict

Rick and Morty really made up for lost time this week as it delved into the troubled history between Beth and her father. It's always felt like there's a great deal of untapped potential with Beth, and this episode made good on that by showcasing just how much she shares in common with her father. The result was a depressing but very enjoyable blend of absurdity and pathos. And Jerry was pretty reliable about lightening the mood when things risked getting too dark.